Reverie
by andyousangyourrefrain
Summary: When Felicity awoke that morning, she wasn't in her bed.
1. Bespectacled Men and Grizzly Bears

**A/N: It's been a good while since I've written any serious fanfiction- beyond the occasional oneshot that is- so please forgive me if my writing isn't all that awesome. I will also note that I am only halfway through season one of Black Butler, so certain characters- namely, Alois and Claude- I am writing based off what clips I've seen of them/what I've read on the Kuroshitsuji wiki and fanfiction. I don't _think _they're terribly out of character, but if they are, please tell me in the reviews! Constructive criticism, ideas and advice are always welcome.**

**Now, on to the story!**

**[8/19/2014]: I figured adding a few extra details about the story to the author's note might be good:**

**This story, especially in the first few chapters, focuses much more on the plot than any of the characters, including the ones from the show. This gets better by chapter five as the plot is fleshed out sufficiently enough, however. **

**Also, as the original story this was meant to be a rewrite of (see profile for details) included my friends and I as the protagonists, the new protagonists in this story still resemble us some. In other words, this is a self-insert story- hopefully not as blatantly obvious as last time, but it's still there.**

**With that said, I'm quite proud of this story in terms of plotting, and I hope you guys enjoy it! **

* * *

_One_

_Bespectacled Men and Grizzly Bears_

When Felicity awoke that morning, she wasn't in her bed.

Well, unless someone had moved her bed in her sleep; she _was _a heavy sleeper, as she had been told over and over again. But why someone would move her bed into the middle of her backyard? And also, why was her bed now a pile of soaking wet leaves? And who in the hell was the strange, bespectacled man lying beside her?

Plagued by these questions, Felicity sat up, only to fall back against the ground as the world spun around her at the tiniest movement. _That's not good. _Cautiously, she raised her hand to her head, withdrawing it when she felt something sticky come into contact with her palm. _Oh, hell, is that blood? _She tried to sit up a second time, with more success as adrenaline began to set in. She touched the back of her head again, and confirmed that yes, that was definitely blood.

_What happened when I was asleep?_

She began to take in her surroundings, her vision beginning to adjust to the light as she did. She wasn't alone- scattered all about the trees were bodies, breathing, living bodies at that, in various states of physical distress. She also began to realise that this wasn't her backyard, but instead, somewhere in the middle of the woods that surrounded her town.

Felicity was _screwed._

Cautiously, she stood up, then looked down at where she had been lying. Just inches away from where her head had been a few moments ago was the carcass of a grizzly bear, long dead but still oozing blood at a painfully slow rate. Once again, she raised her hand to touch the back of her head, feeling around just slightly, and to her relief, she hadn't suffered a massive head injury- nay, she had simply been lying in a pool of grizzly bear blood for God knows how long. _But why did I get so dizzy the first time I tried to sit up?_

Her attention turned back to her surroundings, as she tried to determine who else had gotten wrapped up in...well, whatever had happened while she was presumably asleep. She saw a suspiciously familiar brunette, lying next to a suspiciously familiar redhead- her friends- and then...

_Oh my God, was I lying next to Claude Faustus? These are all characters from Black Butler! I'm stranded out in the woods with my friends and Black Butler characters!_

If the circumstances weren't so..._dire, _Felicity would've relished the opportunity to meet some of her favourite characters in real life. In the current situation, however, it merely added to her stress, and added to the rapidly growing pile of questions she desperately needed answers to. _How did they get here?_

As Felicity began to wonder, one of her friends- Shannon, the brunette- began to stir, before sitting up as well. Squinting slightly, she shifted, looking around. "Felicity? Nicole?"

"Here," the redhead- Nicole- grunted in response, rolling over. That was when Felicity finally took notice of the deep scratches running along her arms, some of which had healed, some of which were beginning to show signs of infection. "Where are we?"

"Felicity?" Shannon repeated.

"Huh?" Felicity blinked. "Oh...uh, I don't know."

"Did we get in a fight last night?" Nicole asked, glancing at her arms as she pulled herself into a sitting position. "Where did all of these people come from?"

"Well, that's a funny story. You see..." Felicity trailed off for a moment. "Black Butler. These people all came from Black Butler...somehow." _I still don't know how they actually got here, please don't ask._

Nicole nodded, surprisingly calm for the situation- she was usually quick to anger, and Felicity had half-expected her to claw her ears off the moment she woke. Maybe the reason she was so calm was _because _she had just woken up.

"Oh, so that _is _Grell lying over there," Shannon remarked, pointing to the red-haired grim reaper propped up against the trunk of a neighbouring tree.

"I think so, yes. That or we somehow got into a fight with a bunch of cosplayers."

"And then that's Sebastian...and Ciel...and Alois...and Claude?"

"Most likely."

Shannon grinned. "I'm gonna go wake them up!"

Felicity rolled her eyes. "Go ahead."

As Shannon zig-zagged back and forth, Nicole stood up, her attention turning to the dead grizzly bear that lay only a few feet away. "Were we fighting a _grizzly bear?_"

Felicity sighed. "I don't remember a thing. I'm going to assume we were." _If only I knew for sure what had actually happened...the suspense is killing me!_

"Alright! Team meeting!" Shannon called, jumping up onto an old tree stump. "We need to figure out what happened last night!"

Felicity looked over, seeing that Shannon had already managed to get everyone up. _I thought that would take longer!_

"How are we going to do that if no one remembers a thing?" Alois rose to his feet, facing Shannon.

"We'll construct a story from the evidence left behind!" Shannon hopped down, crossing the trees to the grizzly bear. "Obviously, we must've gotten into a fight with some wild animals- that's clear." She turned, looking to Sebastian. "Could you turn that thing over?"

"I'd rather no-"

"Sebastian, that's an order!" Ciel interrupted him.

The demon sighed, his lips pressing into a hard line. "As you wish, young master." He picked his way through the clearing, and, with only slight hesitation, pushed the thing onto its belly, then its side.

On the opposite side, three butter knives stuck out of the bear's ribcage- or rather, the handles of three silver butter knives- faintly tinted by the colour of blood. Shannon took a cautious step closer, squinting again. "Alright, so we know Sebastian killed the bear. See, that's one thing we didn't know five minutes ago!"

Inwardly, Felicity groaned; she appreciated Shannon's efforts, but she knew that this was going to be a very, _very _long morning.

"Great, Sebastian killed the bear. That still doesn't tell us anything," Nicole cut in. "Now, if someone could just find out how we all got here, that would be great."

Shannon's face fell, but only for a moment; returning to the stump, she resumed her extensive 'investigation' of sorts. "Do any of you remember even the tiniest, most _minute _detail from last night?" Pausing for a moment, she quickly added, "It could even be something that happened prior to the attack."

"All I remember is falling asleep..." Felicity trailed off, thinking. _Wait a minute...I had a dream about being attacked by wild animals! Maybe that's a clue! _

"And...?" Nicole gestured towards her, and Felicity became immediately aware of the fact all eyes were trained on her.

"I had a dream about being attacked by wild animals," Felicity repeated. "I don't remember a lot from it, though..."

Shannon frowned. "That's weird. Maybe it had something to do with what happened..." Her eyes widened. "Your dream could've come true!"

"That's just bloody stu-" Alois was cut off by Shannon speaking again.

"But that would indicate something else was going on besides us getting attacked by animals...magic, perhaps? Science? Scientific magic?"

"Not funny, Shannon," Nicole sighed.

"I'm not trying to be funny!" Shannon snapped. "I am being absolutely serious, and if you're choosing to pass this off as a joke, that's your own problem."

"But it's absolutely ridiculous!" Nicole shot back. "That doesn't make any sense!"

"Nicole, you're _really _saying that? You're standing next to Ciel Phantomhive, for God's sake! Nothing is '_absolutely ridiculous_' at this point!"

Ciel frowned. "You really shouldn't speak about the Queen's Watchdog like tha-"

"I say Shannon's theory has some possible merits," Grell interrupted, pushing his way to the front of the group. "But how are we going to prove that it's true?"

"It'll take a day or two," Shannon replied, much more calmly now. "For the time being, we ought to find our way back to town so we have a place to stay for the night. Then we can worry about the rest."


	2. Dixon & Co

**A/N: And here we are with the second chapter of Reverie! Like I said in the last chapter, if anyone's too terribly out of character, let me know in the reviews. **

**Now, onto the story!**

* * *

_Two_

_Dixon & Co._

"We were _just outside the park?_ I thought we were actually lost!" Nicole exclaimed.

Felicity stumbled out into the clearing behind her friend, wincing as her leg caught on yet another bramble thicket. Why she had gotten stranded out in the woods wearing only her nightwear- an old t-shirt and a pair of shorts- in the middle of January was a mystery to her. At least she was wearing shoes.

It was still quite early in the morning- by her estimates, it couldn't be past nine- so the park was mostly empty, save for a few squirrels and birds. The cold was still quite bad though, even in a place like this, and every now and then Felicity had to suppress a shiver. Her friends weren't much better off than her; Shannon was plodding about in a tank top and sweat pants, and Nicole was wearing a short-sleeved nightgown of sorts. _Who knew we'd be plodding about the woods at nine in the morning? _

_ Good God, I hate this._

* * *

The walk home wasn't as bad as Felicity had anticipated- they were a whole hell of a lot closer to her house than she had thought. _Alright, so it shouldn't be too late by the time I get in, and practically everyone in my house sleeps in, so provided that it isn't past eleven, I can sneak past unnoticed. _

_ Then...I don't know._

Felicity didn't know _how _she would explain this to her parents. There was a shed out back, so the group could take refuge there...but how long would she be able to keep them hidden before someone noticed? Plus, there wasn't any heating or plumbing, despite the fact there was somehow electricity running to the thing. And there was the food, she couldn't forget about that.

She'd also have to explain why Shannon and Nicole had just shown up at their house at random- remarkably enough, her parents didn't in fact appreciate her having people over without asking. Or random cosplayers, which is what, if asked, Felicity would pass off Sebastian, Claude, Grell, Alois and Ciel as.

"Felicity, we're at your house, you can cut out the act." Felicity's thoughts were interrupted by Nicole prodding her rather harshly in the arm. "Now, please tell me everyone's still asleep so your mother doesn't kill us."

"I have no idea."

Nicole glared at her, but didn't retort. Quietly, Felicity went around to the back door, knowing that it was usually unlocked, and pushed it open, wincing as a loud creak came from the hinges.

Like she had hoped, all of the lights were out, and the clock read _10:17. Good. I might actually have enough time to sort things out._

"Is the coast clear?" Shannon whispered, leaning into the doorway.

"Yeah. Just be quiet and we'll head upstairs. No one ever goes up there anyway."

Cautiously, Felicity crept down the hall and up the stairs, glancing over her shoulder every now and then to make sure she was being followed. Nicole brought up the rear, ushering in Alois and Ciel, who seemed to be the most reluctant to come in; somehow, this didn't surprise her.

She came to the top of the stairwell and went into her room, the door already cracked open. The hinges creaked in protest as she pushed it all of the way, and she stopped dead in her tracks for a moment, hoping she didn't wake anyone up. Then she proceeded into the room, and that's when she saw it.

On her desk was an old leather journal, with a note tied to it by some cording. The way the light was hitting the cover caused it to glow in a rather eerie way- definitely not in a way that materials like that should be glowing- and Felicity debated whether to chuck the thing out of the window or try to figure out how it got there.

She went with the latter, her curiosity getting the better of her; losing interest in keeping an eye on the group of people behind her, she approached the desk, untying the note from the book and reading it out loud.

_"To a miss FELICITY PORTER,_

_ I see you've finally found our not__e. That's good- you need to know a few things about your new power."_

"You have a _power?_" Nicole echoed incredulously.

"Just let her read it!" Ciel snapped. "I'd like to know what's going on here!"

Felicity sighed, turning to glare at them, before going back to reading the words off the piece of paper.

_"Now, if our predictions are correct, you've probably just gotten back from your first excursion- we call them dream sequences, but you can call them whatever you like, seeing as you're the one dealing with them. But I digress; in essence, this power means whatever little dreams you have will happen in reality, sometimes as you're having them, sometimes as long as a day afterwards. It really does vary- we haven't quite perfected it yet. The journal is for keeping track of the dreams, and whether you wish to use it or not is up to you.  
_

_ This is all merely a part of an experiment we're conducting; we cannot divulge the details, but it's going to be a blast for everyone involved, we're sure. Have fun with your new power while you have it!_

_ SIGNED,_

_ Dixon & Co."_

"Who in the bloody hell is this 'Dixon & Co?" Alois's shrill voice rang through the air as he posed the question that had just surfaced in Felicity's mind.

"Maybe it's a company?" Shannon suggested. "I mean, it did say 'Dixon & Co.', not just 'Dixon' or something."

"Not necessarily. This 'Dixon' fellow could simply be referring to whoever else they have helping them conduct this experiment," Sebastian corrected her. "It would explain why they kept using 'we' instead of 'I' or 'me'."

"This place is weird, does this often happen?" Grell asked.

"Oh look, the androgynous grim reaper from Victorian England is calling our town 'weird'," Nicole muttered.

Grell narrowed his eyes at her. "Do they not teach _manners _anymore in the 21st century or is that just an American thing?"

"Would you two just stop fighting for a minute so we can try to figure something out?" Felicity cut in, glaring at both of them. "Seriously, does it really matter _that _much? We're all weird! Big deal!"

"I guess my prediction of 'magic' was right after all," Shannon commented. "Well, magic of some sort, anyway."

"Unfortunately, it really doesn't help us much here," Felicity sighed. "How in the hell am I going to get rid of this thing? My dreams are weird!"

"_That _is all too true," Nicole agreed.

Claude's eyebrows piqued in interest. "What sorts of dreams, might I ask?"

Felicity stared at him. "You do not want to know. Or rather, you will know soon enough." _Why in the hell does he want to know about my dreams? I'd call him a pervert, but that would be like the pot calling the kettle black._

"Moving along," Shannon stated after a short silence, "we've got a long day ahead of us. We need to figure out who's given Felicity her new power, and soon." She paused, then added, "Unless you have brain bleach on hand, that is."


	3. Stacks of Bricks and Plywood Doors

**A/N: This chapter took a bit longer than the rest; I've been dealing with writer's block, friends and packing for the past week, so I haven't had as much time to write as I would like.**

**This is probably my favourite chapter so far, but provided everything goes according to plan, I'm hoping chapter four will be even more exciting. Now, on to the story!**

* * *

_Three_

_Stacks of Bricks and Plywood Doors_

"Well, we can't sit around all day and wait for this 'Dixon & Co.' to show up! And I am _not _spending another night in the shed."

Felicity sat cross-legged on her bed, listening to Grell's complaints as she read over today's journal entry. _Well, at least I didn't get stuck in the middle of the local park with a bunch of Black Butler characters...not that wandering around the yard naked while screaming incoherent gibberish was any better. _"But we don't have any way of finding them," she sighed, looking up from her book.

"And how do you know that?" he shot back, placing a hand on his hip. "You don't know. You're just making assumptions."

She glared at him. "Fine, what ideas do you have?"

Grell shrugged. "Maybe they left a trail. I mean, I'd have to guess this 'Dixon' fellow is at least one person, and they would've had to have someone come into your house to place the note."

Felicity frowned in thought. _Huh. That actually makes sense. _"It's worth a shot, I guess. Let me go call Nicole and Shannon and tell them to get over here."

He raised an eyebrow. "Do you _really _need to drag them over here in order to do this?"

"Moral support, Grell. Never underestimate the power of moral support."

* * *

After some careful negotiation with their parents and more hiding in the shed, Felicity and the group had finally made it out into the woods surrounding her house.

"Alright, so what's the plan?" Nicole asked, absentmindedly fiddling with a strand of her hair.

"We're looking for a trail of some sort that will hopefully lead us to Dixon and whoever in the hell his company is," Felicity called over her shoulder, pausing to study a thicket of bushes. "Look for footprints, broken twigs and sticks, crushed undergro-"

"Or maybe we should just follow this paper trail!" Shannon cut her off, pointing to an uneven line of paper scraps going down the hill.

Felicity looked up. "Oh, yeah, we should probably follow that."

Almost simultaneously, everyone fell in to place, Shannon taking the lead yet again. _You know, I never saw Shannon as the leading type, but then, I never saw any of us being good leaders, so..._

The trail went on for nearly half a mile, twisting around and weaving through bushes and bramble thickets, until coming to a stop at a wide, gaping hole in the ground. Just to the right of it was a shallow creek, that looked like it would've normally drained into the hole, but its flow was blocked by a stack of precariously placed bricks and a huge sheet of plywood.

"Well, that's just great," Nicole muttered. "Now what are we going to do?"

Felicity took a cautious step forward, leaning over slightly to peer into the hole. It was dark, except for the few rays of sunlight here and there. At the bottom- which was about seven or eight feet down- was a ladder, and from what she could tell, there was a tunnel that lead off of it, although where it went was a mystery. It did look like someone had been down there recently- fresh footprints and camping lanterns hung on the walls of the tunnel were a dead giveaway.

"Someone's been down here!" Felicity yelled over her shoulder. "We need to go this way!"

"Oh, great, I get to go down in a tun-" Shannon slapped her hand over Nicole's mouth before she could finish her remark.

"Seriously, Nicole, if you aren't going to help, _then be quiet. _Got it?"

The redhead nodded, albeit rather begrudgingly, and slapped Shannon's hand away. "Well, then the rest of you can go down there and have fun. I'm not doing that."

Felicity turned, taking a few steps away from the hole. "Not all of you are- not to begin with, anyway. I'm not sure how many people this tunnel can accommodate at a time..." She paused, trying to remember how wide the tunnel was. _Maybe six feet, tops? So at the most, two people could walk side by side...Ciel, Shannon and Alois could probably all fit in at once, since they're the smallest, but after that, only pairs of two._

"I forgot, she's the math nerd around here." Shannon chuckled, before stepping past her friend, peering down into the hole as well. "Felicity, you did see the ladder, right?" she asked.

"Huh?" Felicity blinked, her train of thought suddenly interrupted. "Yeah, I meant to mention that. Someone needs to go down there and set it up." Her eyes flickered over to the rest of the group. "Any volunteers?"

"I can go down there to set it up," Sebastian offered. "After all, I am simply one hell of a-"

"Sebastian, this is no time for catchphrases! Go set the damn thing up!" Ciel shouted from the back of the group.

"But of course, young master." Sebastian made his way past the rest of the group, easily climbing down into the hole. The loud clash of metal against what Felicity assumed was rock of some sort sounded through the air a few times, before stopping entirely.

"It ought to be stable now!" he called, his voice drifting up from the hole, echoing slightly.

"Which one of us is going down first?" Shannon asked, turning to Felicity.

Felicity shrugged. "Why are you asking me? I thought you were the leader."

Shannon snorted. "Why did you think that? I'm terrible at leading!"

"Well, you certainly haven't had a problem with it today," Felicity shot back, rolling her eyes. "But if that really is the case, then Grell, you're going down first."

"Me?" Grell raised an eyebrow, stepping out from behind Claude and Nicole.

"You have your chainsaw, ri-" Felicity paused. "You don't have your chainsaw."

"Well...no. For whatever reason, it didn't come with me when I got teleported to...wherever this place is." Grell shrugged.

Felicity buried her face in her hands, biting back a scream of frustration. _That completely throws off my plans! Now the only people in our group that have weapons are Claude and Sebastian, and even then, they only have silverware. Although Nicole is pretty good at hand-to-hand combat...there's no way in hell she's going down there!_

"I can still go down there, you know. I just won't be very useful without my scythe," Grell added after a short silence.

Felicity looked up, nodding. "Alright. And Nicole...well, you may have to go down there too."

"Like I said, I'm not going down th-"

"No one cares, Nicole!" Shannon snapped. "You can fight, right? Then you're going down there!"

Nicole stepped forward, glaring at both of them. "Fine. But if the androgynous guy tries to do anything-"

"He hasn't done anything to you!" Shannon pointed out. "The worst thing he's done since he showed up is _actually be helpful _instead of making snide commentary!"

Grell pushed past the trio of arguing girls and made his way down, and Felicity turned to Nicole. "Follow him. Ciel, Shannon and I will be down there shortly."

* * *

"I never knew what it was like to be underground!" Alois's cheery voice rang echoed through the tunnels. "It's...really, really boring."

"I've been underground before!" Shannon chimed in. "There used to be gold mines in our town, and you can take tours!"

Felicity squinted, trying to make out where she was going in the dim light. The lanterns were rather...erratically placed, for lack of a better word; in some areas, there were clusters of them hanging from the walls and ceiling, but in others, like this part, they were few and far between, and there were brief bouts of complete darkness.

After walking for a little ways, the tunnel appeared to dead-end into what Felicity assumed was either a door or a reinforcement, as it was also made out of plywood. Judging by the fact light was filtering in through a crack in the wood, she assumed it was a door.

"A door?" Ciel piped up, peering over Felicity's shoulder. "Sebastian, open it!"

"Yes, young master," Sebastian agreed, nodding. Felicity came to a halt, allowing Sebastian to step past her and fiddle with the door (or simple sheet of plywood) before he pulled it aside.

Before anyone could move a muscle, there was a cacophony of panicked shouting.

"Oh, hell, they've found us! Run!"


	4. Rodd and Mendoza

**A/N: Woo, chapter four is done! There wasn't _quite _as much conflict in it as I was planning, although I do have some ideas for the next few chapters, so hopefully there will be less 'meandering about and discussing this chapter's established plot point' in it. **

**I'm considering switching POVs around- either Grell or Ciel will get a POV in the next chapter, hopefully. I'm also debating over whether or not to edit Claude out of the story, seeing as most of the things I had planned to do with him would be borderline impossible to justify now without total character derailment, something which I am desperately trying to avoid in this story.**

**Now, on to the story!**

* * *

_Four_

_Rodd and Mendoza_

Felicity rushed forward, barreling into the room. "Whoever in the hell you are, don't move! I've got two demons, a grim reaper, and at least two other people with anger management problems so if you want to get out aliv-"

"Bowen, Williams, stay put. I'll deal with this." Out of the darkness gathering in the back of the room stepped a boy- probably only a year or two older than Felicity herself- with dark brown hair and unnaturally blue eyes- coolant blue. "Bring in the rest of your alleged 'group' and tell me why you're here."

"Are you three the 'Dixon & Co.' we've been looking for?" Sebastian asked, stepping aside to allow the rest of the group to come flooding in.

"Yes, why?" The boy took a few steps forward, his hand resting on his hip.

"You broke into my house and gave me some weird power that makes my dreams come true!" Felicity snapped. "That's why!"

He raised an eyebrow. "You must be Miss Porter, correct? Hm. I didn't expect you to turn up here."

"And why is that?" Felicity narrowed her eyes.

"Didn't think you'd find us. From our observations, you're quite oblivious."

"_Observations? _You've been _stalking _me?"

"Williams has. I just tell these two-" he gestured towards the two other boys, who were huddling in a corner, staring at Sebastian, and now Grell and Claude- "-what to do."

"So 'Dixon & Co.' is a group of peeping toms who can give people powers?" Nicole cut in, stepping in next to Felicity.

"We are neither. I cannot divulge the role we play in the experiment as it is confidential-"

Nicole glared at him. "Alright, which one of you wants to help me get some information out of this kid?"

"I'll help," Grell sighed, stepping over to the boy, before turning to Sebastian. "Bassy, dear, could I borrow one of your knives?"

"Fine," he muttered, producing the butter knife from his pocket. "Just...be careful with it, will you?"

"Of course." Grell grinned mischievously, showing off a set of sharp teeth, before turning to the boy. "Now, if you don't tell us this 'confidential information' of yours, I'll slit your little throat. Got it?"

He swallowed hard, his eyes widening in fear. "If I do tell you, I'll likely lose my life. It's 'confidential information' for a reason."

"Are you employed by someone?" Felicity asked.

"Yes...sort of. It's a complicated matter."

Grell pressed the boy against the wall, the knife pushing up against his throat. "Do tell."

The boy glanced down. "Say, isn't that a butter knife? You _do _know those things are only good for cutting butter, right? They're called 'butter knives' for a reason."

Grell frowned. "So you weren't putting on a show back there, then? Well, that makes this much more difficult. I'm not used to dealing with people who aren't terrified or dying..."

"That's...I'm just going to pretend that you didn't say that." The boy pushed him aside. "Look, I can't tell you anything. Now I'd advise you leave soon if you wish to keep your lives."

"Is that a threat?" Alois yelled, popping out from behind Sebastian.

"No, it's a statement of fact. You won't live to see tomorrow if you don't make haste and lea-" His sentence was cut off by another door slamming open, coming from the back of the room. "Oh, great, she's up. Bowen, go distract her."

One of the boys that had been cowering in the corner straightened up, nodding and vanishing into the darkness.

"Please, listen to me, you _need _to leave. She'll kill you the minute she sees you...possibly worse for some of you." His eyes flickered over to Sebastian and Alois for a moment. "You don't know what she's capable of, and it's best that we leave it that way."

"Dixon, she's coming!" one of the other boys yelled.

Sebastian turned to Felicity. "I suggest we run like hell right about now," he whispered, eyes fixated on the shadows, clearly half-expecting the thing to come running out.

"Not a bad idea," Felicity agreed, nodding. "Alright, we're leaving, grab your stuff and go." She glanced over her shoulder, spotting Shannon just a few feet away, going through..._something _with one hand, a small stack of papers clutched to her chest with the other. She stepped over, peering over her friend's shoulder. "Shannon, what in the _hell _are you doing?"

"Collecting information," she said quietly, before turning away. "I have what I need now."

Felicity stared at her, dumbstruck. "You're _stealing_ from them?" More quietly, she added, "We've been over this, Shannon!"

"It's important!" she snapped back. "Now, let's get out of here before someone does something!"

* * *

"Well, that was utterly _pointless,_" Grell sighed as he hauled himself back out of the hole.

"I don't know, I have some pretty important stuff right here." Shannon held up the stack of papers she had been carrying.

Felicity rolled her eyes as she climbed up the ladder, her head still swimming with what had just happened. _So it is magic. Alright. Great._

"Well, it's going to be a while before we can make another trip down there," Nicole remarked dryly. "We still have school tomorrow, remember?"

"You still go to school?" Claude asked, holding the ladder steady as Felicity pulled herself up onto solid ground.

"Yeah. We're in high school at the moment," Shannon replied, shrugging. "I'm in eleventh grade, Nicole's in tenth, and Felicity's in ninth."

"I thought you were all older than that," Ciel said, staring at them for a moment.

Felicity shook her head. "Nope, not at all." She stepped aside, allowing Claude to scramble past. "Now, what in the hell is that for?" she asked, pointing to the stack of papers.

"I'm not entirely sure." Shannon glanced down at the papers, shifting slightly. "They were in some folder marked 'confidential', so hopefully something important."

"Maybe that's what the kid was trying to hide from us?" Grell suggested, peering over her shoulder.

"Was it just me or did something seem kind of...off about those kids?" Shannon asked, looking up. "Especially the one that you guys tried to stab with a butter knife."

Felicity nodded. "He couldn't have been much older than me but the way he talked...it was really weird."

"He reminds me of Will," Grell sighed.

"Maybe they were being controlled or something," Shannon suggested. As everyone lifted their heads to stare at her, she quickly explained herself. "Like mind control. Or possession. I mean, that lady was probably pretty powerful. She might be their boss."

"So you're suggesting that they were her pawns?" Ciel raised an eyebrow. "Hm."

"Basically, yeah." Shannon nodded, looking back down at the papers. "Hey, wait a second...these files have names on them."

"Lots of files have names on them." Nicole rolled her eyes, crossing her arms.

"They appear to be profiles of some sort," Grell commented, plucking one of the pages out of Shannon's hands and reading it. "This one belongs to someone named 'Kent Rodd', what a peculiar name. According to this, he's a gluttonous bastard, but a talented writer...and can create clones of himself. He's very du-"

"Wait, clones?" Ciel grabbed the sheet of paper, scanning over it quickly. "She's been experimenting on other people as well!"

"That would explain the way they phrased it in the note," Sebastian said, reading over his shoulder.

"Well, what in the bloody hell are we going to do now?" Alois was pacing now, frowning slightly. "There could be a whole gaggle of these idiots just wandering around town, cloning themselves and doing whatever it is they do!"

"This one belongs to a 'Roxy Mendoza'," Shannon read, "who's flirty, generally quite promiscuous, has anger management problems, and can set things on fire."

"So we've got a guy who can clone himself and a potential arsonist," Nicole sighed, her lips pressing into a hard line. "Well, that's just lovely."

"You don't think she's going to use them to destroy this place, do you?" Alois asked, looking up. "The clone guy is pretty easy to deal with, but the arson whore?"

"If you look down at the bottom, it specifies the conditions of their powers," Ciel announced, studying the page closely. "The man who can clone himself, for example, can't do it at will; whenever he's in a room by himself, they just begin appearing."

"The arson girl's powers are automatically activated whenever she gets angry..." Shannon's eyes widened. "Maybe she is trying to destroy the town. But why? We haven't done anything but mine gold and make money off tourism, and the former was all the way back in the 19th century!"

"I don't think she's entirely right in the head," Ciel sighed, "because honestly, if she was, she'd know there are much more efficient ways of destroying a town than this."

Nicole nodded. "A thing that powerful could just cut out the middle man and do it herself."

"But she isn't doing that, and we should be glad because we really don't want her to torch this place." Shannon looked up, brushing a few stray strands of brown hair out of her eyes. "We need to think of a plan to stop her, either way...and _fast_."


	5. A Shed Is a Dreadful Place To Sleep

**A/N: Whee, chapter five is finally finished! Due to being busy with packing (also procrastination and severe sleep deprivation) this one took me awhile to finish. It's from Ciel's point of view this time, mostly establishing a few other bits of information and...well, you'll see.**

**On to the story!**

* * *

_Five_

_A Shed Is a Dreadful Place To Sleep  
_

_It just doesn't make any sense!_

Biting back a loud sigh, Ciel leaned against the tiny windowsill, staring outside. It had already grown dark, on account of it being the middle of winter; at least it didn't snow very often in this place, he figured.

Behind him, the rest of the ragtag band that were being forced together due to the circumstances- his butler, Sebastian Michaelis, Alois Trancy, the Trancy butler, and Grell Sutcliff- quietly milled about. The shed wasn't very large in comparison to what Ciel was used to- it couldn't be more than ten square feet by ten square feet, and at least a quarter of that precious space was taken up by a collection of rusty gardening tools and a workbench with a thick layer of dust and cobwebs spread across it- and having to share it with four other people made this experience utterly miserable for him. But he knew he would be here for a long time- possibly weeks, possibly months- and part of him knew that it would be best to just suck it up and deal with it.

He rested his head in his hands, blinking as he watched the dull scene unfolding outside, shivering as a strong breeze pushed the door open ever so slightly and allowed the freezing winter air outside to come in. There was a quiet click as someone rose to close it- a quick glance over that way confirmed it was Sebastian.

"It's absolutely dreadful in here," Grell remarked, crossing his arms and pulling them against his chest, a futile attempt to conserve warmth. "I don't know how I'm going to last another night in this place."

"You made it through last night just fine, Grell," Ciel muttered, still refusing to turn his attention away from the window.

"I'm surprised you're holding up so well, young master," Sebastian commented, the faintest beginnings of a smile- or, more likely, a smirk- forming on his lips.

"My mind is preoccupied at the moment," he replied, his tone curt.

"With today's discoveries, I presume?"

Ciel sighed, his shoulders sagging. "It just doesn't make any sense."

Sebastian frowned. "How so? You've solved many cases before."

He turned on his heel, one of his elbows still resting on the windowsill. "I cannot think of a single possible motive that this...creature would have. If she really wanted to destroy the town, she clearly has enough power to; if she can bestow those powers upon others, surely she must be able to harness them herself."

"Well, then maybe she doesn't just want to destroy the town," Grell chimed in. "You've thought of that as a possible motive, right?"

Ciel glared at him. "Then what else would she want with this place?"

"Maybe she's doing it for fun?" Grell gave a hopeful shrug. "She doesn't seem entirely right in the head, if you know what I mean."

"What's so fun about giving people magical powers?" Alois cut in, staring at the three of them quizzically from across the room.

"Like I said, she's probably not right in the head," Grell sighed. "Do you even _listen_?"

Alois glared at him, but before he could open his mouth to retort, Ciel continued. "And what will we do when we do find out what's going on? They'll laugh us out of town if we go to the police...not that the police would be of much help."

"Then we deal with it ourselves," Sebastian said, his tone nonchalant.

Ciel nodded, although that was far from a satisfactory conclusion to him. _This lot clearly won't be of much help to me; I'll need to figure this out on my own if I want a solution. _

He turned back to the window yet again, allowing his mind to wander from the matter at hand. He had a week to figure something out, after all; Felicity, Nicole and the brunette that kept bossing them around wouldn't be around until Friday. _For once, Ciel, you actually have plenty of time to deal with this, especially since your schedule's cleared now. Maybe you should enjoy it while it lasts._

* * *

The week crept by ever so slowly for Ciel. In the afternoons, Felicity would return from school and send some food and bottles of water inside the shed, as well as some strange mockery of tea that only called itself 'sweettea'. But on Thursday, she returned much more early than usual, and she was accompanied by Shannon as well; they barged in without warning, and were quite obviously panicking about something.

"What are you doing here so early?" Claude remarked, fiddling with his glasses as he spoke.

"They got Nicole!" Shannon half-wailed, half-banshee screeched. "She has a power now too!"

There was a chorus of 'what?', as well as a loud 'bloody hell!', uttered by none other than Alois, in response to this new information.

"How can that be possible?" Grell asked, staring at them blankly.

Felicity sighed. "From what she told me, she found one of those notes sitting on her nightstand when she woke up. The only reason I know is she called me from her house while we were at lunch, and she didn't go into specifics on what the power was."

Ciel frowned, crossing his arms. "Well, now what are we going to do? One of you having powers is bad enough."

"We could find a way to stop said powers," Grell suggested. "Didn't we find their hideout a few days ago? There's no harm in going down there and taking ca-"

"Do you know how _dangerous_ that would be?" Ciel turned, facing Grell. "That being could be more powerful than any of us!"

"Then it's a good thing we're going in it _together_, not alone." Grell sighed, rolling his eyes irritably. "Honestly, I don't think any one of you ever listens for more than a few seconds!"

Ciel resisted the sudden urge to slap him, knowing that losing his temper would be idiotic and possibly disastrous. "If that thing can bestow powers left and right, then it has to be quite powerful. Challenging such a thing without proper planning or resources would be reckless and idiotic."

"Then we make a plan," Grell replied coolly. "Was that really so difficult that you, out of all people, couldn't figure it out?"

Ciel glared at the reaper, but held his tongue, as the only responses that came to mind in that instant were rather crass.

"It's settled, then," Felicity announced. "As soon as I can get a hold of Nicole, we're going to head down there and deal with this. Maybe it'll be over soon." She chuckled, before shaking her head. "One can only wish, I guess."

* * *

It was growing late in the afternoon, and Ciel had been pacing back and forth in the shed, deep in thought as he had been for the past several days. _Clearly she must have another motive than destroying the town, unless she's just a complete idiot. I'd hope that something with that much power isn't a complete idiot, though. _

It had grown rather quiet inside. Sebastian was standing watch outside the door, waiting for Shannon, Felicity and Nicole to return, alongside Claude, while Grell and Alois were sitting on the floor, both preoccupied by something as well, although Ciel didn't stop to wonder what. He had much more important matters to figure out- after all, he was really the only one in the group that had any idea what in the hell he was doing in terms of strategy; Shannon and Grell were surprisingly good for rallying the troops, but he knew that he needed to be the one pulling the strings.

_Maybe she doesn't want to destroy the town? _In the back of his mind, that particular thought lingered, and so he began to ponder that. _It's entirely possible, I suppose. Maybe she wants to take over the town...but why would she do it in such a convoluted matter?_

_ This is going to take a lot of though__t. I just hope I can figure it out before it's too late._


End file.
